and still there's light
by TappinCastlefan
Summary: Later. She would deal with Katherine later. Insert of sorts for 6.02.


Her heart pounded in her chest when the phone rang.

She had been pacing laps around the living room and kitchen, only daring to enter his office once. For what, she had no idea. She doubled back and worried the phone between her hands…waiting.

Alexis and the boy had gone upstairs long ago. Pi was at least good for that…distracting her granddaughter at a time when she had no idea what to tell her, or how to _not_ tell her how concerned she was for her son's safety.

Something was not right. She knew it.

So when the phone finally rang, vibrating gently across the kitchen counter, she jumped.

Her hands shook as she reached for it and saw Katherine's name on the screen.

"Katherine," she sighed into the receiver. Not a coherent thought could she come up with, just…a quiet plead for answers.

"_Hi."_ She sounded startled, but…relieved. _"Can you and Alexis get on the next flight to DC? I sent boarding passes to your email address."_

"Yes, yes, of course. What's the matter, is Richard alright?"

"_He is now, I can better explain when you get here. The flight leaves in an hour and the airline has been told to wait for you."_

Ah, Martha thought, the benefit of working for a Federal agency.

"We'll get there as soon as we can. Where should we meet you?"

"_Don't worry about that, I'll arrange everything_. _Just get here."_

She quickly ended the conversation, called for Alexis to gather a few things to carry-on, and printed the tickets.

Never had she been so happy to have learned how to use email.

* * *

The second the driver said he was taking them to a hospital her heart plummeted. No, it didn't sound good at all.

She had Alexis text Katherine that they were on their way, thank goodness, because the woman was waiting for them at the entrance when they pulled up. She was shifting foot-to-foot, looking unusually small in jeans and her white button down with the phone at the ready.

"Katherine!" She called, stepping out of the car. "How is he? What happened?"

"Yeah," Alexis broke in, "Is Dad okay?"

"Hey," Kate nodded, gently resting a hand on Alexis's shoulder, "Your Dad's doing good. He's tough."

"Wha-what happened?" The girl questioned nervously.

Martha reached over and ran a hand across her back, if only to ground herself as Katherine explained.

Poisoned. Her son had been poisoned in an odd twist of fate that no one could have possibly predicted. Katherine's face fell with every word she said, not making eye contact with them.

But that wasn't her current concern. Later. She would deal with Katherine later.

"Can we see him?"

"Oh," she stuttered, "yes, of course. He's got his own room and everything."

Eagerly they followed her in and up, Pi just trotting along behind them.

Fine. Whatever.

As long as she got to see her son.

* * *

She sat outside the room on a cushioned bench, just breathing. Her head tilted back against the wall, eyes closed, trying to focus on the fact that he was alive and okay, and "pulling through," as the doctor so kindly put it, and wasn't slipping away.

Trying to ignore the fact that he hadn't told her.

That neither of them told her.

She just tried to keep the image of him smiling up at her at the forefront.

She looked up when she heard the door click shut. Katherine leaned back against it, swiping her hands over her face and through her hair before taking a deep breath.

"How's he doing?"

Her future daughter-in-law looked over sheepishly, "Alright. Sleeping it off for now. I'm sorry," she muttered as she stepped over and sat down beside her "I should've waited for you to go back in before letting him-"

"Nonsense, he needs the rest. It's alright."

Katherine sighed, nodding, stretched out her long legs and wrapped her arms around herself.

Armor.

"Where's Alexis?"

"Went off with Pi to find some lunch and half decent coffee for us."

"Good, at least…she's got him."

Martha couldn't help but laugh. Just a little bit. "Bright side to everything, right?"

Katherine just hummed. The awkward silence loomed, trapping them while the rest of the hospital seemed to buzz about. Nurses shuffled papers, patients coughed and shifted about, walkers click-clacked and slid against the tile floor and the two of them just…sat.

"You didn't answer the phone." She finally managed.

"He didn't want me to."

Martha shifted, turned to look at Katherine, the plastic cushion squeaking with the friction of it. "You didn't think there was reason for me to know? Especially now?"

Especially now that they were officially family…

Katherine turned her head, her lip nervously pulled between her teeth and Martha saw the look in her eyes.

Perhaps the saddest thing she'd ever seen in her life. The woman's eyes were glassy, tears threatening to spill over as she looked on with a deep, sorrowful look of guilt and regret.

"I didn't know how to tell you. Or…what to tell you." Her voice shook. "We barely knew what was going on or how much time he-" She sighed, "I didn't know if he had told you or not, and when I asked him what he wanted me to say, he just…I knew that he didn't want me to worry you any more."

"My son's opinion and pride aside, what did _you_ want to do?"

There was a long pause before she answered, "I wanted to tell you. I wanted to take him home and get him resting and just…spend that time together, with you and Alexis."

"So why didn't you? He would've listened to you."

"No he wouldn't," she laughed, faintly. "And he didn't because I did try," she asserted. "But then he made a good point. No one wanted to figure it out more than him – us. If we didn't do it together, then I don't know if he would have made it this far."

She stretched, running her hands along the sides of her jeans. Her eyes dropped again, apparently finding the cracks in the tile very interesting.

"He was so scared," her voice was a whisper. "I know it even though he was trying not to let it show. Sometimes I think he forgets that I know him as well as he knows me."

Martha reached over, took Katherine's hand in her own despite the lingering frustration she had for these children. "I'm glad you were there for him. And I know what you're thinking, but this was not your fault, and for once it's not even his. Just a terrible twist."

"If it weren't for me he would have never been in this city, and he wouldn't have-"

"Now Katherine Beckett you stop that. You are an intelligent, strong woman and you took care of him in the way he needed it, when he needed it. And if you think any less of yourself because of what some mad man did then you're not the woman I thought you were."

Katherine sniffed, swiped a tear off her cheek and nodded back at her, "I'm sorry Martha. That I never told you. I should have."

"Well, frustrating as you two may be, I'll manage. But you don't have to hide from me. I may be…experienced, but I can handle it."

"Okay," she sighed, the faint beginnings of a smile on her face.

"But between you and me I hope we never have to do this again. No more hospital visits, got it? Either of you."

"We'll try," Katherine laughed.

"Good," Martha affirmed. "I suppose given the track record you two have that's the best I can hope for."

"You're going to be alright," she told the younger woman after another moment. "You two will figure this out, just…have some faith."

"Yeah," she agreed, "thanks."

She gently squeezed her hand – a reminder that she was in it for the duration. "Anytime, Darling."

No denying it any longer, she thought. She had her hands full with the two of them.

* * *

_Honestly I'm surprised I haven't seen this yet. Really, I'm just avoiding doing real work and I love Martha...so...yeah._

_Let me know what you think!_

**_Tappin  
=)_**


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